BOSTON — A subatomic particle discovered last year that may be the long-sought Higgs boson might doom our universe to an unfortunate end, researchers say.

The mass of the particle, which was uncovered at the world's largest particle accelerator — the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva — is a key ingredient in a calculation that portends the future of space and time.

"This calculation tells you that many tens of billions of years from now there'll be a catastrophe," Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., said Monday (Feb. 18) here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"It may be the universe we live in is inherently unstable, and at some point billions of years from now it's all going to get wiped out," added Lykken, a collaborator on one of the LHC's experiments. [Gallery: Search for the Higgs Boson]

The Higgs boson particle is a manifestation of an energy field pervading the universe called the Higgs field, which is thought to explain why particles have mass. After searching for decades for proof that this field and particle existed, physicists at the LHC announced in July 2012 that they'd discovered a new particle whose properties strongly suggest it is the Higgs boson.

To confirm the particle's identity for sure, more data are needed. But many scientists say they're betting it's the Higgs.

"This discovery to me was personally astounding," said I. Joseph Kroll, a University of Pennsylvania physicist who also works at the LHC. "To me, the Higgs was sort of, it might be there, it might not. The fact that it's there is really a tremendous accomplishment."

And finding the Higgs, if it's truly been found, not only confirms the theory about how particles get mass, but it allows scientists to make new calculations that weren't possible before the particle's properties were known.

For example, the mass of the new particle is about 126 billion electron volts, or about 126 times the mass of the proton. If that particle really is the Higgs, its mass turns out to be just about what's needed to make the universe fundamentally unstable, in a way that would cause it to end catastrophically in the far future.

That's because the Higgs field is thought to be everywhere, so it affects the vacuum of empty space-time in the universe.

"The mass of the Higgs is related to how stable the vacuum is," explained Christopher Hill, a theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. "It's right along the critical line. That could either be a cosmic coincidence, or it could be that there's some physics that's causing that. That's something new, which we didn't know before."

Strikingly, if the Higgs mass were just a few percent different, the universe wouldn't be doomed, the scientists said.

But even if the universe is in for an unfortunate end, there is at least one reason for consolation.

"You won't actually see it, because it will come at you at the speed of light," Lykken said. "So in that sense don't worry."


how stupid...maybe they should study it few a few more years...

Crap! There's so much I haven't even done yet.

better get started, this article is a couple of days old, too...

You still has many years to come. You better start right now.

Tens of billions of years from now... Viagra won't work anymore.

I'm on it!

So it is already a fact? If the forcefield really exists where can we find it? How did they know that it comes in a speed of light? Do you have the link so that i can read more. Im interested. Thanks mightymoe

Oh! Scientist can do you a favor..

Oh! Scientist can do you a favor. I do not know pigs use that. Now i know! Haha (lol)

No need for the link i found it already. Its still a theory. They arent sure that the particle is really the higgs. They should be precise of what their saying because these will scare the people. If it travels at speedlight/lightspeed then we should be bothered. Its as fast as we know it. Little science can waver the faith. Lets just pray it wont happen. It may or might not be happening, whats important is we live a life of contentment. Godbless! nothing to worry about it

How have they calculated it will come at the speed of light?
what if it goes faster?
does that not mean it could go back in time?
If so, we might have been wiped out yesterday, but just havent realised it

Well we still live arent we? These particles as they say "transfers mass to another particles" and so on so it will spread faster in a blink of an eye. This is still a theory.

yeah we are. But that is with the ideology that cause must come before effect.

If time were to go backwards then that would no longer be true.

Effect would occur before cause.

So are we alive after all?

Do you want me to answer your question with a question?

you could do, but then it wouldn't matter if we weren't alive.

No. If the universe will be wiped out, can you live without the universe?

No. If the universe will be wiped out, can you live without the universe?

ah right sorry didnt see that one.

I guess the only way to answer that is how a person determines life.

If you believe the body is only a shell carrying a soul or energy force then their is life without an universe.

It solely depends upon whether you believe that there must be a physicality to have life, or whether you believe you evolve from the physical demands of Earth and the universe.

I much preferred my first answer though

I believe in life after death.

yeah so do I.
I have always thought of life as a learning curve.

Its a strange saying that isnt it? Life after death.


It should really be life after life